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ESSAY 



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ON 



SEA COAST CROPS; 



READ BEFORE THE 



^ritttltaral S^ssodation of % ^hntmg State, 



ON OCCASION OF THE 



ANNUAL MEETING, HELD AT COLUMBIA, 

THE CAPITAL OF SOUTH-CAROLINA, 




BY R F. V7.- ALL ST ON, 

Plantfir, of South-Carolina, and a Member of the Association. 



CHARLESTON, S. C. 
A. E. MILLER, 3 STATE STREET. 

1854. 



-c 



COPY. 

La Place, Macon Co. Ala., Aug. 27th, 1853. 

RoBT. F. W. Allston : 

Dear Sir, at a late meeting of the Executive Coun- 
cil of the Agricultural Association of the Planting and Ssave-holding States, 
held August 12th, in the City of Montgomery, your name was proposed, 
and you were elected by the Council, to address the Association, at its next 
meeting, which takes place in Columbia, S. C, on Thursday, the first day 
of December next. 

The subject of the Address or Essay to be " Culture of Sea Coast Crops.'' 
An early reply signifying your acceptance, will greatly oblige, 
Respectfully yours &c. 

(Signed) N. B. CLOUD, 

Secretary. 



West Point, Septemher 8th, 1853. 

My Dear Sir : 

* ***** Tijig selection, by the 

Executive Council, while I am sensible that it does me unmerited honor, 
oppresses me with a sense of responsiblity — our Statistics are so imperfect 
and I have been so much a home man, out of my humble public duties. 

While I may be permitted to express the wish that one more able had 
been selected for the occasion of your interesting meeting, and am free to 
utter the apprehension, occupied as I will be by pre-existing engagements, 
that I may fail, not only of doing justice to the subject, but also of giving, 
satisfaction to any one : I yet dare not decline the appointment, as unsoli- 
cited as unexpected **»*****» 

I remain very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

ROBT. F. W. ALLSTON. 
N. B. Cloud, Esq. 



ADDRESS. 



It is good for us to be here — discussing, not "the 
affairs of the Nation," but the elements of a Nation's 
wealth. The education, the agriculture, the commerce of 
the planting States. Citizens of the several States meet 
in this Association to compare notes, with the mutual 
desire to understand the peculiar views of each, to profit 
by each others experience, communicating freely their 
own— to improve the art, and direct attention to the 
Science of Agriculture. 

It is to be hoped that one (not the least) of the good 
results of these meetings will be the institution of an 
Agricultural and Geological Survey, in each State, by the 
Legislature thereof, or at least the organization of a Board 
of Agriculture through the members of which, analyses 
of soils may be procured by farmers, together with the 
dissemination of all sorts of information relating to soils, 
manures, implements and culture— varieties of stock 
and their treatment, the reclaiming of wild lands, and 
the administration of labor. 

To a country populated as is ours, a thorough Agri- 
cultural Survey is replete with use and advantage. It 
serves to discover the best systems of culture and of 
management perfected by gifted individuals who may 
have devoted a lifetime to their establishment, to analyse, 
describe, and communicate them to distant parts of the 
State, where, possibly, they may be entirely new, and, if 
apphcable, greatly beneficial. 
1 



The Surveyor makes it his business to ascertain the 
diseases of plants and animals, and unites with his own 
the experience and the science of all farmers in discuss- 
ing the remedies applicable to them. 

In this, and in various other ways, the Agi-icultural 
Survey tends to make farmers, in all parts of the State, 
somewhat acquainted with each other, as well as with 
their different practices and facilities, their difficulties 
and remedies. 

The State of North-Carolina has ordered an Agri- 
cultural Survey, and has entrusted its execution to the 
experienced Dr. Emmons, who was an agent in the 
elaborate work in the State of New- York. He has 
already published a small preliminary volume as preface 
to his valuable labors in our sister State. In connection 
also, with the University of North-Carolina, at Chapel 
Hill, a school of Science has been established, with a 
Professor (C. Phillips) of Civil Engineering, and a 
Professor (Hedrick) of Agricultural Chemistry, who, 
besides lecturing on that subject has made some inter- 
esting and valuable analyses of soil. 

The Agricultural and Geological Sin*vey of South- 
Carolina is little more than fairly begun. The benefits 
which have been and will be derived from what has been 
done, cannot fully be estimated in terms. If they could 
be calculated and set down, in money, I suppose the result 
would be a sum sufficient to defray an hundred times over, 
all the expense which has been incurred for it by the 
State. The bringing to view and marking the local ex- 
tent of the marl beds on the rivers Pee Dee, Waccamaw, 
Santee, Cooper, Ashley and Savannah, on Edisto Island, 
and elsewhere on the seaboard. The testing of the 
constituent value of those marls by the long practised 



formnlse and ample experience of the venerable Ruffin, 
together with his clear explanation of and rules for the 
use of them, are a boon to the inhabitants of the respec- 
tive localities, and to the productive wealth of the State, 
which no one will pretend to estimate in numbers.* 

For the institution of the Board of Agriculture, by 
which was organized the plan of Agricultural Surveys in 
England, the people of that country are indebted to the 
wisdom and public spirit of Sir John Sinclair, the friend 
and correspondent of Washington.f 

May not this Association constitute such a Board for 
the Southern States, for wise and useful ends 1 

Of all descriptions of men, whose energies are actively 
employed in the same vocation, planters are the least 
given to act together in combination. A main reason 
for this may be found in the fact of their living segrega- 
ted in the country, although sociably inclined, associating 
kindly, and proverbially hospitable. 

Each, independent of all persons save the indwellers 



* lu his Report, (1843, p. 82,) Mr. Ruflin says: " The small use of the plow, 
(indeed its total disuse iii many cases,) and its substitution by the hoe and liand 
labor, is, to a stranger, the most remarkable and novel feature of the agriculture 
of the lower Districts." This could not have been said of the Rice growing 
region of the lower Districts, but of the long-staple Cotton region. Even there 
the entire disuse of the plow is becoming somewhat more rare. Several planters, 
even on Edisto Island, are using the plow in the culture of Cotton as well as 
Cora; and its use k becoming general elsewhere. 

t A descendant of Sir John visited the United States in the mojitla of October, 
in the person of a Reverend Presbyter of the English Church. The Rev. John 
Sinclair, Archdeacon of Middlesex, who, together with the Right Rev. Bishop 
spencer, late of Madras, and other Divines, was deputed by the venerable So- 
ciety in England " for the pi-opagating of Christianity in foreign parts," to attend 
the late triennial meeting of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in this country. It was gratifying to nie to make the acquaintance of this 
distinguished Divine, this modest, estimable gentleman. And it will be gratifying 
to my countrymen to know that he bore away to his native Island impressions of 
American character and sentiment, most pleasing and grateful to him, alike hon- 
orable aud grateful to us. 



and laborers of the plantation, practising there his own 
peculiar system, is separated from his surrounding neigh- 
bors by the recognized boundary of his broad acres. 
Deluded thus into a dangerous self-dependence, habitu- 
ally secluded from the active bustle of hfe, and the fre- 
quent haunts of men, the worthy planter too often fails 
of exercising his share of that influence which helps to 
form public opinion. Not so the gifted citizen who 
mingles daily with the animated masses congregated in 
cities, or associates constantly with men engaged alike 
with him, in commerce, manufactures, trades or profes- 
sional pursuits. If combining seldom, however, and 
only under the pressure of high excitement, or of threat- 
ened danger to a common interest — and if less commonly 
exercising individual influence — it is consoling to reflect 
that, whenever it may be called into active exercise, the 
influence of the educated planter is a sound and whole- 
some one. 

Generally, he is conservative. Bred in the country 
amid the exuberance of nature, in her just proportions 
and distribution, his mind is accustomed to her gradual 
processes, the regular succession of the seasons, and the 
annual recurrence of the routine of labor allotted by the 
Creator. His gifts acquire strength, character and vir- 
tue, They may never be developed beyond his rustic 
sphere — never until fair occasion offer. But, when so 
called forth, they will be exercised for the most part 
conservatively, and on the side of truth. In the crea- 
ion around him, even of inanimate nature, 

'• He finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, 
Serujons in stones, and good in everything." 



CROPS OF THE SEA-COAST. 

You have invited me to address you on " the Culture 
of the Sea-Coast Crops." A subject fruitful in itself, 
abounding in details, and sufficiently interesting to those 
of us whose business it is to cultivate the great staples. 
The information which I have been able to collect, as to 
one staple, together with all that I may have acquired in 
the culture of the other, is entirely at the service of the 
Association. But all the detail cannot be given here. 

Both Cotton and Rice were at first grown by few 
persons. As they profited largely by the peculiar 
culture, they expended in hospitalities the revenues 
which accrued. Early in the present century a single 
estate in Georgia is said to have yielded a crop (600 
bags) of Sea Island Cotton worth $100,000 and upwards. 
Rice has been known to command a ready market at 
thirty shillings per cwt. The planter, in those distant 
days, who made good crops, doubled his capital in a few 
years. I had the statement from the planter himself, 
that in one of those years the proceeds of the labor of 
each worker, on one of his plantations,* enabled him to 
add another laborer to his estate. During the war of 
1812, a good deal of salt was made on the seaboard. It 
commanded, a year or two after the war, $6 a bushel ! 

These monopolies have no more any existence. They 
are now matters of history merely. In republican com- 
pensation, the same causes which have reduced the profits 
of the few, have tended to equalize with them the in- 
comes of the many. 

* Waterford, a small plantation lying in the best pitch of tide on Waccamaw. 
it belonged at that time to the late Benjamin Allston. 



10 

Of Salt, an article of necessary consumption, which 
had been manufactured on our coast more than a hun- 
dred years, there are now, none so poor to " boil a kettle." 

Of Cotton, the culture far from being confined to 
Georgia has been extended over the fertile region, em- 
bracing with the exception of Maryland, Virginia, Ken- 
tucky and Missouri, the Southern and South- Western 
States. And in the production of Rice both the Caro- 
linas, Georgia and Louisiana, are engaged. It is grown 
for domestic consumption in Mississippi, Florida, and 
Texas, and nearly every where else where may be found 
a settlement of negroes who once lived in the rice region 
of country. 

The sawing of lumber — farming and distilling turpen- 
tine, are now the most profitable kinds of business near 
the seaboard and out of the city. 

They are not considered favorable to the steady 
habits of the negro ; but they yield very tempting in- 
comes, varying from three to six hundred dollars to the 
hand. 

Over the bar of Georgetown alone, a single port in 
South-Carolina, the lumber and naval stores which 
passed out during the last fiscal year, it is computed, 
exceed half a million of dollars in value. The quantity 
exported is steadily increasing. 

Cotton. — The crop most largely exported from the 
United States is Cotton. It pays for two-thirds nearly 
of the imports — the basis of Federal revenue. 

This important staple, the peace-maker between Eu- 
rope and America, is the chief product of the industry 
of the States furnishing the constituency of this Asso- 
ciation, 



11 

Cotton * long known to the world, has been grown 
and worn m the East for centuries. The application 
of machinery to its manufacture, imparted a decided 
impulse to the culture of the raw material. But it re- 
mained for the invention of Whitney'sf saw-gin to 
remove the chief difficulty in the way of its production 
in America — a production now limited only by the wants 
of mankind. 

Amazing as has been the progress of the growth of 
Cotton in America, the population, almost, and the com- 
mercial prosperity of the United States have kept pace 
with it. 

I will not more than allude to the exports of the year 
1791, in comparison with those of 1851 — sixty years 
after. (In money value they are as $52,000 to $112,- 
315,317 !) Nor will I offer the reflections suggested by 
such a comparison. Some other mind will do this service 
more appropriately and ably. They are replete with in- 
struction as well as interest.^ For the benefit of States 
as well as individuals, we are warned that "To whom 
much is given, of him shall much also be required." 

* Mr. William M. Lawton of Charleston, has iu his possession a sample of Cot- 
ton, (produce of a single pod) which was plucked from the tree in its wild state, 
growing in the Island of Cuba. The tree is said to bear about three years — the 
staple, of course, is inferior. 

t Whitney's invention was patented in 1793. There is now on exhibition, at 
the World's Fair, in New- York, a model of the original Saw-Gin. Class 5 and 6, 
No. 166. The model is owned and exhibited by bis son, Eli Whitney, of New- 
Haven, Connecticut, where the remains of the ingenious inventor lie buried. He 
died January 8th, 1825. 

t The comparative distribution of the general crops of Cotton, for ten years 
past, must not pass unnoticed. It appears (N. Y. Journal of Commerce and 
Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, Nov. 1853J that from the years 1843-4 to 1852-3, 
while the Cotton crop has increased from 2,124,895 bales to 3,354,058 bales, the 
consumption of Great Britain has diminished in the ratio of 56.50 to 51.78 — that 
of France as 13.30 to 12.72 — that of the North of Europe has increased in the 
ratio as 3.25 to 5.19 — that of other foreign ports as 3.54 to 5,77, and that of the 
United States as 16.32 to 20.59 per centum. 



12 

The variety which is cultivated on the sea-coast was 
introduced into Georgia first. Removed from the influ- 
ence of a salt atmosphere it degenerates, and the staple 
becomes inferior. The region in Avhich it is produced 
extends from the River Santee, in South- Carolina, in- 
cluding the Parish of St. John's Berkley, to the ever- 
glades of Florida ; embracing a belt of land some twenty 
to thirty miles wide, measuring from the Atlantic. 

The crop of 1852 may be set down at 34,000 bags: 
The receipts in Charleston were, 19,843 bags. 

in Savannah,* - 12,971 " 

besides several hundred bags, say 1,186 " 

(which were sent directly from 

Florida to New- York and New 

Orleans) 

34,000 bags. 
Out of which quantity, it is estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 
bags were furnished by the State of Florida. 

Judging from the quantity of land recently cleared 
in Florida, and the comparative success which has hith- 
erto repaid the enterprising cultivators of long staple 
Cotton in that State,! it is estimated that the crop of 
Florida, if not the present year, will very soon equal 
that of Georgia in quantity. 

* See Appendix A. for a Letter received after the foregoiiig statement was 
made up. 

t The planters in Florida have fresh lands not yet infested with bugs and in- 
sects. They use the plow extensively, and find it no damage to the plant. They 
have the salt air breathing its peculiar hiiluence from the West, on a part of the 
Penuisula, as well as from the East. They have, too, domesticated among them 
McCarthy's Gin. 

They must succeed with this Cotton, it would seem, unless they yield to the 
influence of the climate ultimately, and let the Cotton tree grow for their crop. 

The people of Florida, as well of Southern Georgia, should forthwith begin to 
plant the Olive Plantations of the Olive tree will interfere veiy little with the 
general crop until they yield largely of fruit, They will succeed in Florida whe« 
the Cotton lands shall be worn out. 



13 

Sea Island Cotton, — In treating this subject, without 
presuming to enter on the iield which has been so thor- 
oughly traversed and completely occupied by the distin- 
guished President of the State Agricultural Society, I 
will only venture to add such gleanings as I have been 
so fortunate to make in Georgia and elsewhere, together 
with some few results which have been obtained in 
Carolina, since the writing of that elaborate and able 
essay, to which I beg leave to refer.* 

The soil best adapted to the production of fine Cotton 
is a light yellow, sandy soil. It bears well the admixture 
of salt and marsh mud with the compost applied to it, and 
yields, if fairly dealt by, a fine, long and even staple.f 

The better practice is to prepare the land by listing 
in the remaining growth, as soon as the last year's crop 
has been picked — even before the Cotton has been 
cleaned for market. The alleys are then broken up 
with the plow. In the spring, the earth, well manured, 
is drawn up with the hoe, making a bed upon the au- 
tumn listing, and the seed is sown in dibbles, a peck to 
the acre, or more, according with the strength of the 
soil, &C.J After the seeds germinate, the alleys are 



" Memoir on Sea Island Cotton by the Hon. Whitmarsli B. Seabrook, President 
of the State Agricultural Society, and recently Govefnor of South-Carolina 

I take leave here to acknowledge the favors which I have received, in the way 
of information, freely and kindly given, both as to Cotton and Rice, from Dr. 
Scriven, Messrs. Waldburg and Habersham, of Georgia; from Messrs. AVilliam 
Seabrook, William M. Lawton and John F. Blacklock, of South-Carolina. 

t The usual compost is prepared in summer by mixing with farm-yard, cowpen 
and stable litter, salt marsh, marsh mud, and even salt. It is applied to the land 
in winter at the rate of forty, fifty and seventy cart loads. 

Mr. Townsend, of Edisto, does not depend on the " cart loads," but covers his 
land well with the manure. 

t In order to ensure the production of fine Cotton, the seed must be carefully 
selected, and well attended to. Owens' Selection has, at present, a high reputa- 
tion. Mr. Geo. C. Owens has given name to the seed, as Mr. Kinsey Burden did 
to his in 1826-30. 

2 



14 

again broken up with the plow, and soon the process of 
thinning begins. With the three first hoeings, the plants 
are gradually thinned out to the stand of a single stalk, 
eighteen, twenty or twenty-four inches, or more, from its 
neighbor. The ground must be kept clean throughout. 
The quantity or rate of planting, when the hoe is alto- 
gether used, does not exceed three acres to the hand ; and 
the task is one-fourth of an acre (105x105 feet.*) If 
the plow and scraper be used together with the hoe, 
much more may be accomplished, the hoe drawing up 
to the plants the earth loosened by the plow, the task 
may be three-fourths of an acre. Where the plow is 
used freely, seven acres to the hand may be tended, as 
in Florida, and perhaps on Santee. But, on this scale, 
the manuring must be neglected, or only partially done. 
In Georgia, my informant,! who uses the plow and 
scraper, plants five acres to the hand, in order to keep his 
land in good heart by manuring. For the same reason 
a very successful planter on Edisto,J tends but five acres 
to the hand. He uses the plow freely, manures well, and 
makes a good interest. 

The effects of the autumnal gales, so unavoidable, are 
sometimes disastrous to the ungathered and ripening crop. 

Among the diseases to which Long Cotton is subject, 
blight, rust and "blue,"§ may arise from some defect in 



* Among Cotton planters, on the seaboard, the acre is laid off square, two hun- 
dred and ten feet (210x210) being made up of four squares of 105 x 105 feot= 
44,100 square feet. 

t Mr. Waldburg. t Mr. Townsend. 

5 Dr. Bachnian suggests that these diseases may be due to some niiiuile insects. 
The suggestion is worthy the attention of microscopists. 

If they will be attentive to the instructions of this distinguisiied Naturalist, Cot- 
ton plantors cannot fail to derive from his scientific investigations, and practical 
auggestions, liints which may lead them to discover the causes, and lil;ewise tlie 
remedies, of many direasea to vvhic-h tlie plant is now a prey too often. 



15 

the soil, which, doubtless, may be removed, or partially 
remedied by proper dressing, at the proper season, to- 
gether with thorough draining — for caterpillar and the 
bug there is no certain remedy but propitious seasons — 
unless, indeed, it be found in a judicious rotation of crops, 
and naked fallows, the ground being w^ell broke up and 
exposed to winter frost. When about to be attacked, 
however, defend your plants by all the means within 
your reach. Destroy the enemy in embryo, as the ener- 
getic planter, last alluded to, has shown can be done. 

PREPARATION FOR MARKET. 

It requires from fifty to sixty days to prepare a bale of 
fine Cotton for market. 

1st. The seed-cotton must be sorted for the gin, i. e., 
the dead leaves, and every thing extraneous is picked out 
say sixty pounds to the hand. 

2d. It is then passed through the roller gin, which 
reheves it of the seed. The common foot gin or treadle, 
propelling two rollers, is the machine commonly used for 
separating the fibre from the seed, cleaning on an average 
twenty-five pounds a day. The McCarthy, or Florida 
Gin, with one roller, is now attracting much attention; 
and the planters are putting them up as fast as they can 
procure them. A gin, costing one hundred dollars, pro- 
pelled by a good horse or mule, or still better by steam, 
will clean from 1 50 lbs. to 200 lbs. a day.* 

3d. The Cotton is "moted" as it comes from the 



* Mr. McCarthy, of Florida, took out ;i patent, in 1840, for a gin bavin"- 
one roller, say four inches in diameter and three feet in length, dressed with 
leather arranged spirally around it. This roller revolves over and in loose contact 
with a plate of sheet iron. The Cotton is received and drawn in between the 
two, and the seed is separated by means of a thin steel bai- placed horizontally, 
and operating vertically in front of the roller, and with great rapidity. By the 
use of this machine, not only is the saving of labor considerable — a one horse 
power machine will gin as much Cotton with one hand to feed it, and may be an 
inciJicieut hand otherwise, as five old gins with each a Iiand — but flic seed is found 



16 



gin, namely : all particles of broken seed, and every 
speck which may have escaped detection in the " sort- 
ing," are carefully removed. Thirty pounds to the 
hand are moted after the foot gin, sixty pounds after the 
use of McCarthy's patent, or in such proportion. 

4th. It is then packed by hand in the old fashioned 
round bales, containing each 320 lbs. to 400 lbs., of clean 
merchantable Cotton. 

The finest Cotton is exceedingly delicate in vegeta- 
tion, and requires careful handling throughout. It can 



to be less crushed than it was by the old fashioned roller gin, requiring, of course, 
less nioting manipulation. 

Strange to say, an invention of so much value to our planters on the coast, has 
remained almost unknown in Carolina until a year ago, and unused by steam until 
the present year. To Mr. Wm. M. Lawton, to wkose kindness I am indebted for 
this description, is the credit due for bringing it to light in this State ; and Mr, 
Wm. Seabrook, I believe, was the first planter who ventured to use it in the pre- 
paration of his crop, a sample of which, in all its silky fineness, he has sent to the 
Industrial Exhibition at New-York. This gentleman not content with the deter- 
mination of his own sound judgment, supported by that of his immediate friends, 
as to the effect of this new mechanism upon the staple of fine Cotton, has, yield- 
ing to the promptings of his enlarged views and thorough practice, invited thereon 
the verdict of the consumer of the I'aw material. He has paused a bale of his 
last crop to be prepared by tliis machine, and one of the same fine Cotton to be 
prepared after the old method, and to be shipped on his own account to the ha- 
bitual spinner in Manchester, for the express purpose of testing by his practised 
judgment the relative value of the staple prepared in the new and old way. This 
test, as far as it has gone, has resulted unfavorably to the new gin. The spinners 
think that Cotton prepared by it, has rather a greater tendency to " nep", and they 
euggesta caution against using it for cleaning the finest Cottons. 

We find the following letter in the Savannah Repuhlicnn, which we copy for 
the information of those engaged in the cultivation of Sea Island Cotton : 

" Liverpool, Aug. 18, 1853. 

Gentlemen, — Since my arrival in Great Britain, I have had much intei-course 
with the spinners of fine yams, in Lancashire and Scotland, and it will interest 
you to know that they are generally impressed in favor of the Sea Island Cotton 
they have been receiving from Savannah. The Florida Cottons they particularly 
refer to as possessing every essential qualification, e.Kcept cleanliness; this defi- 
ciency, I was apprised on all sides, would weigh gravely against the ajiprociation 
of Florida descriptions in the future crop. And the reasons adduced were so for- 
cible, that I am quite sure I shall do service to every intelligent planter by giving 
them publicity. 

lu the first place, they say thai the per centagc of loss by crushed seeds and 



17 

only be produced, tlierefore, in small quantities; and then, 
unless everything be propitious, it does not pay too well, 
The cost of producing a bag of ordinary Sea Island 
Cotton is about $75,* that of the finest twice as much. 
Prices. — In 1851, in Charleston market, fine Cottons 
were sold at 60 cents per lb. — a single bag commanded 
70 cents. 

In 1852, fine Cottons sold at 80 cents, per lb., only 
a bale or two brought more, (85 cents.) 
Ordinary Sea Island Cottons commanded in Charleston, 
In March, 1851, 30 cents per lb. 
1852, 30 cents per lb. 
• " 1853, 43 and 45 cents per lb. 

stained and dead Cotton, at present prices, is a prominent obstacle to the use of 
carelessly prepared lots ; but a still more serious impediment is found in the fact 
that in the present nice position of the labor question, the opei-atives, who are 
now all paid by what is called piece work, are independent enough to decline 
working upon illy prepared Cotton, out of which they cannot get as large a weight 
of fine yarn per day as they can out of clean sorts. This is the secret of the pre- 
sent absence of demand for the lower descriptions of Sea Islands, and it is not 
difficult to predict that a wider difference in price will exist in the Savannah and 
Charleston markets next season, between dirty and clean Cotton than has before 
been known. 

Complaints have not been wanting against not a few of the Liberty and Bryan 
county crops, which are represented as harsh and dry in staple. Manure and 
change of seed are the obvious remedies for this defect. On the other hand 
some of the crops raised but a mile or two from the end of your plank road, 
where care has been had, have been pronounced equal to some of the favorite 
island brands. 

I may add that of all the preparations of Cotton sent forward from Savannah, 
the open fleecy sorts from the McCarthy Gin have given most satisfaction, promis. 
ing always that the Cotton is clean. Some of the lots I have seen here, prepared 
in this way, had minute particles of shell and leaf so incorporated in the Cotton 
that its usefulness was considered greatly impaired. 

A small portion of one of the finest island crops in South-Carolina, comprising 
two or three bags, put through the McCarthy Gin, was recently sent to the mill 
of one of the lai'gest spinning concerns in Manchester, and there placed in com- 
parison with the remainder of the crop ginned in the old way, and the report 
given me by the manager was, " the open Cotton is exactly in the condition we 
require to bruig it to for our work." 

I am, gentlemen faithfully yours, Z. 

* This Jj3s reference to Cottons produced by the hoe culture without the plow. 



18 

The planters are lew who make the finest Cottons, 
some, eight or ten, perhaps, in Carolina, planting a small 
portion of their lands in the choicest seed, which has to 
be selected with great care from year to year. 

These Cottons are taken by England and France, 
chiefly through the ports of Liverpool and Havre. 
England receiving the larger proportion, re-exports a 
part of her supply to the Continent, (Switzerland and 
elsewhere,) where it is manufactured into exquisite laces 
and muslins. A few hundred bags of Sea Island Cot- 
ton are manufactured in the United States, chiefly in 
making spool cotton. A pound of Sea Island Cotton 
may be spun so fine as to produce a thread *of incredi- 
ble length. Yet Prof. Mitchell, of the Cincinnati Ob- 
servatory, stated that no thread, of any kind, which he 
could procure, was equal in fineness, lightness, and 
elasticity to that of the spider's web. 

The Cottons that will command from 45 to 68 cents 
per lb., made with the proper use of the plow, and 
cleaned by the improved machinery, yield a very hand- 
some interest upon the capital invested, say not less than 
from ten to twelve per cent. Fourteen per cent, was 
realized last year by more than one planter. 

PROVISION CROP. 

Of all the various calhngs to which men in the low- 
country resort for a livehhood, all, except the transient 
turpentine farmer,* raise a provision crop of Corn, Peas 
and Potatoes. Even the timber-getter, whose lumber- 
ing gigantic wheels require a goodly number of stout 



* The man who hires laborers annually for the purpose, the Railroad contractor 
also, who hires male laborers only, for his work. Neither employment exercises 
wholesome influence on the habits of the negro. 



19 

oxen for the heavy draught, while these are recniltluf^ 
on the summer pastures of his native pine-barren, will 
put his horse to the plow and work out provision for the 
ensuing winter. 

The hunter, too, who ranges now for game farther 
and wider than erst he did, over natural meadows* upon 
which his stock of cattle luxuriate in summer, and 
through thick wooded swamps, where they seek shelter 
and forage during the hard weather of our brief winters. 
The hunter and his sons employ a part of several days 
in the week, during the proper season, in weeding the 
potato patch, and tending the corn and planting the slips 
and the peas, whilst the industrious wife, and thrifty, 
home-bred daughter, ply the spinning-wheel and hand- 
loom, to work up their own garden crop of Cotton with 
the coarse fleece of their native flock into comfortable 
jeans and flannels for the household, 

CORN — (^Zea Mais) — Maize.^ 

The land for Corn is seldom disturbed until near the 
time for planting, though it will not be doubted that the 
farmer would find profit in breaking up his land during 
the frosts of winter. It is laid oft" with the plow in 
drills, usually five feet apart, and the deeper the better. 
These drills, or furrows are filled with the litter from 
the stables, and the farm pen, and whatever else of 
vegetable matter may be at command, (the Rice planter 
uses rice-straw for this purpose.) They are then listed 



* Large tracts of prarie called Savannas, which in May, June and July abound 
with the finest grass pasture, and at limes are richly varied with beautiful flowers. 

t See Eeport " on the Culture of Indian Com," made to the Winyah and All- 
Saints Agricultural Society, 20th April, 1848, by the Hon, J. R.Poinsett, for a full 
account. 



20 

in or covered up wit}i either the hoe, or the plow — 
sometimes with both. 

Tlie Corn which is planted towards the last of 
March, is dropped (3 or 4 grains in one spot, to be 
thinned out, after healthy and vigorous vegetation, to 
one plant) in dibbles made upon the ridges thrown up 
as above, 3 or 4 feet apart, depending upon the produ- 
cing power of the land.* Some farmers sow Corn as 
close as 2j feet and even 2 feet. This, however, re- 
quires very strong land, enriched by manure. In gene- 
ral, it is not wise to plant thick ; the field in full growth 
may be more promising and pleasing to the eye, and 
may produce more fodder, but less sound, heavy grain. 

For the most part, this crop receives three plowings, 
and one hoeing, if the hoe can be spared. When in 
its tender state it is thinned out to one stalk. In the 
month of June it is thoroughly cleansed and laid by 
with the hoe, when Peas are sown in dibbles upon the 
ridges, midway between the Corn plants. This is done 
at such precise time as to allow the peas to vegetate 
and appear just before the Corn tassels. When the 
grain is sufficiently filled and hard, the blades of the 
plant are stripped and cured for forage. The fodder 
makes excellent food for horses, but the work of strip- 
ping is one among the least inviting and healthful to 
the laborers. Soon the dying stalks, no longer ob- 
structing the rays of the sun from the lowly legume, are 
covered by the running pea-vines, which when in blos- 
som, and when with full pods pendant from every stalk, 
present the field in an aspect rich and abundant in 
promise. 

t is becoming a common practice lo roll the seed Corn in a solution of coal 
tar, before planting it, in order to protect it from birds, (fee. 



21 

When gathered, Corn should be put up with the inner 
shuck on, in a house well ventilated, as open to the air 
as is consistent with the protection from damp. 

On good farms the production of this grain is at the 
rate of 20 to 35 bushels per acre. A leading Wacca- 
maw planter has repeatedly averaged, on thirty acres, 
fifty bushels per acre and more. 

Any soft Corn planted near the sea-coast tends gra- 
dually to become flinty. 

Higher latitudes, and especially western lands, are 
better adapted to the production of Corn, yielding less 
wood, and more grain. 

In the State of Indiana, for example, a crop has been 
obtained, much larger than ours, with a single plowing. 
A stand once secured, the weeds are suffered to grow up 
in common with the plant. Both mature, in nature's 
good time, when as much Corn is gathered as may be 
needed for the grainary, — the remainder is fed off to 
stock on the field, where it has been grown. 

OF POTATOES,* ( CoUVOlvuluS.) 

The land is prepared in Hke manner as for Corn. On 
rice plantations instead of straw the "tailings" are used 
for Potatoes, viz : the finer particles of the straw pro- 
duced by threshing out the grain, and separated by the 
process of winnowing, or fanning the grain clean, to be 
pounded. As on well managed farms these two crops 
are produced from the same ground, alternately ; or in 
the order of rotation with Cotton — the land is laid off 
the same distance for both, whether it be 5 or 4J feet, 



* For the elaborate and able Keport by Dr. J. R. Sparkman, "on the Culture 
and Preservation of the Sweet Potatoe, " see the Proceedings of the VVinyah and 
All Saints' Agricultural Society, 18th April, 1350. 

3 



22 

so that the beds, or ridges may be reversed every year. 
This preparation with Rice Planters is made by hsting 
in the taihngs in the month of February. The land lies 
thus until a convenient time for planting, somewhere 
about the last of March, when the earth on both sides 
is drawn up on the listing, so as to make as large beds 
as the ground will readily admit of On the top of these 
beds, trenched for the purpose, the Seed Potatoe is 
droped 6 or 8 inches apart, either whole or cut into two 
parts, as the quahty of seed will allow, or require. The 
trench is then covered with earth, and the seed left to 
vegetate. As soon as the sprout appears above ground, 
the work of cultivation begins, and it must be constantly, 
and diligently followed up; or else disappointment will en- 
sue as to the result. 

The fine grass which makes its appearance with the 
Potatoe must never be suffered to take deep root, but must 
at once be shaved off with the hoe — and picked out by 
hand, so as to be entirely destroyed. As fast as any 
more grass, or weeds make show, they must in like manner 
be removed, while young, and growing only on the surface. 
If either be suffered to take root, loose, and rich as is 
the earth of the beds, their roots soon penetrate deep, and 
spread, when they can no longer be removed without 
distusbing the incipient grotwhof the young tuber, if in- 
deed it be not pulled up altogether in extracting the 
weed. After hoeing, a good rain is the signal for break- 
ing up the earth between the beds, and drawing it up 
with the hoe to the top of the beds, carefully around the 
plants. Upon this the vines shoot forth, and very soon 
cover the beds, shading the ground effectually, and thus 
preventing a new crop of grass. 

This is the "root" crop. It is dug from September to 



23 

November inclusive, and yields from 150 to 250, and 
even 300 bushels per acre.* The more productive crop, 
ordinarily, is that from the vine, or slip. 

Thus the land intended for Slip Potatoes is generally 
sown down with Oatsf as a winter crop. These are 
harvested in June, by which time, Potatoes, if planted in 
rich ground, and kept clean, will have shot out vines, 
long, and abundant enough to cut for planting slips. 
The Oat stubble is listed in four and a half feet apart, 
(in order to alternate with Corn next year.) Upon this 
Hsting, the plows throw four furroughs, then the hoes 
come with the first rain, and make up a good bed, flat- 
tening it on top. Along the top of these beds are care- 
fully laid together three or four, or more, succulent vines, 
which are covered at the distance of sixteen, or eighteen 
inches, with a good hoefull of earth, leaving interval 
enough open for the leaves of the vine to breathe. 
Keep these clear of grass, and well earthed up, if 



* A Proximate Analysis of the the Sweet Potatoe made by Emmons, and given 
in the Report of the Agricultural Survey of the State of New-York, is attached, in 
order that it may be compared with that of Prof. Sheppard, reported in the Pi-o 
ceedings of the State Agricultural Society of South-Carolina, and in order also to 
invite the attention of Farmers to the other Analyses furnished by both these va* 
luable works. 

PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF THE SWEET POTATOE. 

Starch, 19.955 

Sugar, and Extractive matter mostly Sugar, 5. So 

Dextrine 0.750 

Fibre after boiling in a weak solution of Caustic Potash 1.850 

Matter dissolved out of Fibre by a weak solution of Caustiq, f o i nn 

Potash, ^ - "" 

Abumen , 5.900 

Casein 1.050 

A body that resembles 225 

Water 69.515 

t After the middle of January, Oats may be sown (1 bushel per acre) in a light 

furrow, mada by the plow ; the sower following the plow with seed, and the 

earth from the next furrow covering the grain. 



24 

washed by heavy rains, and the new vines will soon 
cover the face of the earth. If the soil be rich, and the 
planting be made in June, 300, 400, or even 500 bushels 
of Potatoes per acre, may be produced for winter use, 
depending upon the nature of the season, and the lateness 
of frost. The lightest frost will affect the vines, and 
effectually check the further growth of the tuber. The 
manifest effect of frost upon the vines, is the signal for 
gathering the crop. The alleys between the beds are 
filled with straw from the threshing-yard. On the first 
fair weather, the Potatoes are dug, and the straw 
covered up by the digging, soon decomposing, manures 
the land for the next succeeding crop of Corn. The 
Potatoes after remaining in large heaps on the field, 
protected by a covering of straw and earth, until the 
whole be dug, are housed* for winter use ; the smaller 
roots being selected for seed, and carefeully housed to 
themselves. The hogs are now turned in to feed upon 
the unearthed roots, and those which have been unavoid- 
ably covered over in the digging, with earth, and straw 
together. Before another season for planting arrives, 
the hogs, besides furnishing the usual supply of Pork and 
Bacon, will have given the field, by rooting after Potatoes, 
which their keen sense of smell traces out, the best kind 
of (not deep) subsoiling. 

A good rotation course is, after the crop described 
above, to take two crops of Corn, then graze, then a crop 
of root Potatoes, then Oats, and slips as just described, 
and so on. 

The late lamented Ward, who confessedly stood 

• The house is built of good plauk, with walls four feet high, covered with a 
tight shingle, or thatched roof, oua dry well drained spot, — from 40 to 100 feet 
long, and from l5 to 20 feet wide, with ventilators, allowing the escape of the 
hot moist air, and gases from within, but not admiltiug the ingress of cold frosty- 
air from without. 



25 

foremost among Planters, was in the habit of dividing 
his upland into two portions ; planting them every year 
alternately, in Corn and Peas — Oats and Potatoes. 
His crop of Corn seldom measured less than fifty bushels 
to the acre — ^his Slip Potatoes yielded six and seven 
hundred bushels, and sometimes more to the acre. 

ALLUIVAL LANDS. 

Of the large quantity of land uncultivated in the 
the Carolinas, in Georgia and Florida, a good portion 
of the alluvial Swamp is destined to be reclaimed and 
converted to the farmer's use. 

None of the Swamps on the great rivers in those 
States are under profitable cultivation, which only can 
be permanent, except those which, having been reclaim- 
ed, are protected by dams {levies) from the destructive 
influx of heavy freshets to which those rivers are annu- 
ally subject. Leaving out of view, for the present, the 
tide-swamp, the Cotton plantation nearest the Sea- 
coast which has been damed on the Pee Dee, is Mr 
Gibson's near Marr's Blufl", where the Manchester Rail- 
way is to cross. That on the Santee belongs to Mr. 
Mazyck Porcher, and lies near, a little below the Santee 
Canal. 

Doubtless there are many points upon these rivers and 
others as susceptible of like improvement, which would 
repay the labor, if the right plan of constructing levees 
be pursued. Col. John N. WiUiams' dams on the Pee 
Dee have withstood many floods, including those of the 
last two years. 

There are many inland Swamps, t)ordering on the 
tide- water country, from the Neuse to St. Mary's — 
(perhaps farther) sources of short streams, capable of 
being drained, and ultimately tilled ; which contain not 



26 

only thousands of acres of land suitable for Corn, small 
grain and meadow grasses, but also an abundance of 
excellent timber, — some white oak, as well as cypress 
and ash. Among these, I may mention the immense 
tracts bordering on the Lake Waccamaw, the beautiful 
reservoir into which are emptied the floods of the adja- 
cent low lauds, to be discharged gradually into the bold 
river of the same name. This Lake, in North-Carolina, 
some five miles long, by about three miles wide, is 
surrounded by dense forests of Swamp abounding in 
timber, which all will be brought into market, or domestic 
use, whenever the lands shall be drained for cultivation. 
The white marshes too, through which meanders a small 
stream tributary to the Waccamaw, although they could 
afford no timber, could be reclaimed, and would seem 
to offer to the enterprising Planter, the temptation of a 
boundless field. 

Let us revert to the time, not more than a century 
distant, when Indigo was grown in Carolina, for expor- 
tation. 

The now fruitful Rice-fields of Santee and Pee Dee, 
and Waccamaw, which bear in grain such teeming 
tribute to productive wealth, and which, in extent of 
cultivated level, stretched out, in the direction of the ebbing 
current, beyond the visible horizon, were then but dense, 
and dark, interminable Swamps, the home of the owl 
and the alligator. Tide swamps they were, the soil 
of which though very rich, was useless to the residents 
and settlers of that day. 

If some active proprietor, desirous of converting it to 
his profit, was hardy enough to plant in Corn, an occa- 
sional knoll, more elevated than the rest, the loss of Corn 
and Pumpkins, two years out of three, detered his 



27 

neighbors generally, from following his example. In 
periodical addition to the alluvial loam, the shaded 
sm'face was enriched by the ultimate decomposition of 
the annual fall of leaves from the diciduous forest, extend- 
ing miles across, from river-bank to river-bank. These 
leaves were often covered up entirely by the deposits 
of freshets, freighted as they were with the disinte- 
gration of rocks above, and the debris of marl-beds below 
the falls. 

The spring-tides also of the summer solstice, seldom 
failed to bring their contributions of silt from the muddy 
bays and creeks of salt-water. Lifted by angry waves 
and held suspended, this silt was borne along with the 
current of brackish water, sometimes far inland. 

When these two causes operated in conjunction — 

namely, when a heavy freshet from the high-lands was 

met by muddy gale-tides, welling up from the salt 

estuary below, the deposit precipitated was much deeper 

. at the meeting of the waters,* 

The extensive forest once sustained by this alluvial 
formation has disappeared as far up, almost, as tide- 
w^ater flowed then. Thousand of acres of this same 
Swamp on each river, may now be traversed, and not a 
stump be seen above ground. The Swamp has been 
reclaimed. The tide is shut out, subjected to regulation, 
and rendered tributary to the enlightened designs of the 
Rice Planter, 

The numerous Islands of which this region- is com- 
posed are all enclosed (leaving an outside margin twenty 
to thirty feet wide) by dams high enough and strong, to 

* See Report to Committee of Patents on Rice, 1852, page 88, for a notice of 
tlie deposit on Santee (over 2 inches) in 1845. 



2§ 

resist the highest spring-tides. The entire area is divid- 
ed into "squares" or fields, containing twelve to twenty 
acres each, by a series of check-banks, made up by 
excavating all around the field, at a distance of eighteen 
feet from the center of the line on which the bank is to be 
located, a ditch some six to eight feet wide, by five feet deep. 

The fields are further prepared for cultivation by 
excavating from ditch to ditch in one direction, a number 
of smaller ditches, called "quarter drains," fifteen to 
eighteen inches wide, and three feet deep, located 
parallel to each other, at the distance of seventy-five, 
or fifty, or thirty-seven and a half feet apart, as may be 
required by the nature of the land, and the pitch of tide 
in which it is found. Across the frontier bank, and in 
a line with one of the main ditches, a deep cut is made, 
in which is placed and covered up, a (wooden culvert 
twenty feet long, and open, four feet by two) "trunk," 
furnished at both ends with a sluice-gate, for either ad- 
mitting the tide over the field, or withdrawing it as may 
be desired. 

Thus has the tide-swamp been subdued, and convert- 
ed into flourishing fields, inviting diligent husbandry. 
The owl has fled to some far off wilderness, and the 
alligator hides his diminished size at the first sound of 
human approach. 

Sailing up one of those fruitful rivers, the traveller 
may now behold many miles of serpentine embankment, 
(contiinuous save where a water thoroughfare occurs) 
enclosing thousands of acres, checked into fields, which 
bear in waving luxuriance, crops of this translucent 
grain.* 

* Rough Rice as it comes from the field is tranlucent in a degree sufficient for 
an experienced eye, when holding a head or sheaf of Rice up toward the Sun, to 
detect the red-rice, which is opaque. 



29 



OF RICE — {Oryza Sativa^^ 

Rice, for which we are indebted to the Island of Ma- 
dagascar, was introduced into CaroUna and America at 
once, towards the close of the seventeenth centuiy. A 
few grains were sown in the garden of Landgrave 
Smith, the site of which is now entirely covered by 
houses and modern improvements, in the City of Charles- 
ton. Those few grains produced many ears, which 
being disseminated for seed, succeeded in adaptation to 
the climate; and the low country of South-Carolina 
since, has become the centre of the rice-growing region. 
The first seed was white, such as is grown in China and 
Guiana to this day, and such as may still be seen pro- 
duced on the uplands and inlands of America. 

Sometime before the Revolutionary war, the "gold 
seed" Rice was introduced,t which, owing to its superi- 
ority, soon entirely superseded the white. It is now the 
rice of commerce, and the only grain referred to herein, 
when rice is mentioned, without being distinguished by 
some peculiar name, or characteristic. 

This " gold seed" has undergone improvement in lat- 
ter years. Hence has resulted the production of a variety 
longer in the grain, but not perceptibly larger otherwise, 
which is highly esteemed by foreign consumers, when it 
is produced in perfection, commanding the highest prices 
in market. It is called "long grain" Rice.f 



* See Appendix B. for a notice of the wild Rice of Minnesota. 

t From what precise quarter, and how, has not been accurately ascertained. 

X This peculiar grain, so eagerly sought out in the market at any price, when 
strictly prime, and so trying to the planters' skill, perseverance and judgment to 
produce in perfection, was obtained from the sowing of part of a single head on 
the plantation of the late Hon. Joshua Jno. Ward, of Waccamaw. Its appearance 
has only been accounted for thus : one of his friends, a planter on the Pee Dee, 
having a large body of forest land, had been in the habit of clearing a small por- 

4 



30 

The white Rice of the present day measures three- 
eights of an inch in length, the same in circumference 
around its shorter axis, the grain being in shape an irregu- 
lar elipsoid, and in weight numbers nine hundred and 
sixty grains to the ounce (Troy.)* 

The gold seed, the Rice of commerce, measures three- 
eights of an inch in length, the same in circumference, 
and in weight numbers eight hundred and ninety-six 
grains to the ounce.* 

The long grain Rice measures five-twelfths of an 
inch in length, three-eights of an inch in circumference, 
and in weight numbers eight hundred and forty grains 
to the ounce.* 



tion every year or two since the year 182S, He spared no pains, nor expense, in 
getting the best seed to sow in this clearing ; and for ten or twelve years after, 
the best seed of the last product, specially culled, was with diligent care selected 
for the newest field. 

The result of this judicious and con.slstent attention, was the appeaiance in 
market of Seed Rice, which became notorious for its purity and soundness. 

Some years ago Col. Ward sup[)lied his plantation with the seed of this Pee 
Dee plant. The winter after, while threshiiig out the crop produced from it, 
his overseer, .Mr. Thompson, called his attention to a lew grains of uncommon 
length, being a fraction of a broken head, which he picked up in the barn yard. 
Directing it to be carefully preserved, he had it sown in the spring, and nursed 
under the immediate inspection of the overseer. From these few grains, re{)ro- 
dnced and replanted, year by year, and pre.served tlirough the many difficulties 
and disasters of several years, is derived the fincy " long grain " Rice. For Col. 
Ward's letter on its origin, see " Proceedings of the State Agricultural Society." 
Report on Rice, 1843. pp. .55-6. 

* The specimens whicli have been compared, and which are now before you, 
are all the production of the same plantation, Nightingale Hall, Pee Dee. The 
seed of each variety (there is but one .species, several varieties) is more or less 
polluted with a degenerate grain, the same for the most part in size, and in color 
of the chaff, as the original, but red within after being hulled, and much harder to 
be cleaned in the pounding mill. This corruption of the grain is supposed to 
have been occasioned by its continuous exposure in the fields, after the harvest- 
home, to all changes of weather and temperature, also from long submersion in 
the water of the ditches. It is called " red " or " volunteer Rice." The seeds 
resting upon the surface, or slightly covered near it,vegetate earlier than the seed 
regularly sown for a crop — those somewhat deeply covered by the soil vegetate 
later. Both, the one and the other, however, mature before the crop rice, rather 



31 

The system of culture for one is suitable for any of 
these varieties. The first, it is said, will bear upland 
culture better. The last (long grain) it is supposed, 
will bear water better.It does not tiller as much, shoots 
up a taller stock, and longer head, but does not bear as 
many grains to the head as the other, and more com- 
monly approved kind of gold seed. 

We begin the preparation for a new crop by (cleaning 
out the ditches every third year ; the drains are cleaned 
out every year, after plowing) plowing the land as 
soon after the harvest as the fields can be gleaned, and 
the scattered rice, left on the surface, be sprouted. The 
stubble is turned under by running a deep furrough, say 
eight inches.* This may be continued until the end of 
January. The sods should have the benefit of the entire 
winter frosts, if possible, the influence of which disinte- 
grates and prepares them duly for the leveling. 

In March; or when about preparing to plant, the har- 
rows will be made to pass over the plowed ground.f 
The hoe follows to cut up and break the remaining 
clods and level the surface. The more the soil is com- 
minuted, and the surface brought to a common level, the 
better. The trenchers then come in with hoes made for 
the purpose, and trace out with great accuracy, the drills 



than after. There is a kind so vicious aiid degenerate that it can never be gath- 
ered, except when immature- As soou as the grains ripen, they drop in the field, 
being dislodged by a puft'of wind, or a tt uch of the hand. Hence it is sometimes 
called " drop-rice." 

* Both plowing and harrowing are performed, ordinarily, by oxen — two yoke 
being required if we go deeper than six to eight inches ; and two yoke get on 
badly in the swamp. The Tuscany breed furnishes the best oxen for our climate^ 

t After deep plowing the " plow turns" should be broken up with the spade, 
sinking the spade as deep as the plow has gone, say eight inches; an able-bodied 
man will break, up in this way, and thoroughly, a surface of fifteen hundred 
square feet in a day. The field should be well drained however. 



in which to sow the seed fourteen, thirteen or twelve 
inches apart from center to center. They will average 
(some drawing stake-rows, and others filling up the 
pannels) three quarters of an acre to the hand, in day's 
work.* 

The field now in high tilth, and resembling some- 
what a garden spot, is ready for the seed. The sowers, 
with great care, yet with wonderful facility and precis- 
ion, string the seed in the drills, putting two and a half, 
or two and a quarter bushels to the acre. The labor of 
sowing depends so much upon the state of the weather, 
whether windy, or moist, or otherwise, it is better not 
to require any given task. Generally, each woman will 
accomplish two to three tasksf and do it well — it should 
never be done otherwise ; for the seed cannot be re- 
covered if two thick, nor if two thin, can the sowing 
be repeated without needless waste and increased irre- 
gularity. 

The best hands are chosen to sow Rice. In fine 
April weather it is pleasing to behold the steady, grace- 
ful progress of a good sower.f The sowing done, water 

* When the land is new, the trench should be brnad, say five inche«, and the 
rice may be scattered in the trench ; but for old land, and most of rice-land is now 
old, narrow trenching hoes are preferred, opening a drill three inches wide. In- 
fected with grass-seed and volunteer rice, old land requires close hoing, and every 
seed that vegetates outside the drill is cut up and destroyed. 

t The task in the Rice region of South-Carolina is( 150" 2 feet ) a half acre. This 
is the unit of land measurement among the negroes, and with practical planters. 
The acie, which is u rectangle (300 x 1^0 feet) made by two square i)alf acres, 
contains 4.5,000 squar feel. 

t It is a good plan to make handsome presents to the best sowers afterthe plant" 
ing. When Rice is to be covered with water, without a pi'evious covering of earth 
as described in the text, the seed must first be pi'epared by rolling it in clayed 
water, for process of which see a note to the Memoir on Rice, p. 16 ; Appendix to 
Rulhn's Agricultural Sin vey of Soulh-C;ir(;lina ; also the Sii]ipli'nient to the Pro- 
ceedings of the State Agricultural Society. 'J'here are mgny planters who still 
prefer the old system, covering the seed with earth, lu this case, after the seed 



33 

is forthwith admitted, (two tides are better than one,) 
and the field remains covered until the sprout becomes 
green and begins to fork. The water must then be 
withdrawn, else the plants will be forced to the surface, 
by any slight agitation, and float away from their posi- 
tion.* 

In twenty days after, or thereabouts, the Rice is hoed 



is covered, the water is taken on the field for five or six days, to sprout the 
grain, when it is drawn oS", and is returned only when the sprout, " in the needle 
stale," is seen fairly above ground. This, " the point-flow," is held about four 
day« and then drawn off. After which the culture is the same as above described 
throughout. 

' The reasoning for the successful substitution of a covering of water for a 
covering of eaitli in planting Rice, and also fur tlie requisition of sound and per- 
fectly full seed, will be found in the law of germination and growth. 

Prof. Johnston thus expresses it : " When a seed is committed to the earth, if 
the warmth and moisture are favorable, it begins to sprout. It pushes a shoot 
upwards, it thrusts a root downwards ; but until the leaf expands and the root has 
fairly entered the soil, the young plant derives no nouri.xhnient other than water, 
either from the earth or from the air. It lives on the starch and gluten contained 
in the seed." 

In the case of Rice covered with water, the first shoot is radical and tends 
downwards, but it does not take root until the air is admitted to the leaf, the lungs 
of the plant, then it becomes rooted instantly. If the water be not reduced when 
the sprout becomes green (until the sprout is green it cannot bear the rays of the 
sun) the expanding of the leaf in the water will draw up the unfixed root and the 
whole will rise and float upon the surface. 

The water, after floating the trash to the banks, should at no lime be over deep, 
least the process of germination be delayed, and with any ijnperlect or defective 
grains be prevented altogether. I have known an entire .sowing of a field lost by 
too deep flnodiiig. The field which was rather low (reclaimed marsh) vi'as sown 
early in Apiil, and the water let on inconsiderately deep. At the end of sixteen 
days I had the water drawn, and not a seed had germinated. The land was occa- 
sionally subject to the influence of salt water, but the water u.sed was entirely 
fresh and sweet. The field was replanted in same manner as before, and flowed 
undei- my per.sonal supervision. The seed, selected from the same parcel, sprouted 
readily, and the field yielded an abundant return. This was in 1840. 

In Georgia, on one of Dr. Daniels' plantations near Savannah, the Italian 
metliod has been pursued wiih a good degiee of success, namely: The seed is 
fii'st sprouted, then scivvn broadrc.ast over the field and covered up by the harrow, 
which, being reversed, is drawn over the surface. The culture theie is with 
water chiefly. The planters on the Savannah river, where the land drains re- 
markably well, realise twelve percent, from the proceeds of their crops. 



and flowed deep, the water over-topping the plant for 
two or three days, in order to destroy the young grass 
just springing up among the plants, and also the insects 
that may have lodged upon the blades, or which may 
have been generated among the stumps or roots, or stub- 
ble. At the end of two or three days the water is 
slacked down to about half the height of the plant, now 
somewhat stretched. At this depth it is held until the 
plants grow strong enough to stand erect, and will admit 
the laborers to walk between the trenches and pull out 
the long grass which shows itself, and which will now 
yield to very slight effort. If any rushes appear they 
will now be plucked up by the root and borne out to 
the banks. 

Two days after this weeding, the long water* will 
gradually be drawn off. A succeeding tide will be 
taken in and let off immediately, in order to wash out 
the ditches. Two men, furnished, each with a long- 
handled rake of curved iron teeth, are put to rake from 
the ditches all the water-growth which impedes the 
draining, placing it on the side of the bank. In eight 
days (the land by that time should be dry) the smaller 
hoesf are used, and the soil is stirred as deep as it can 
be with them. The plant jubt recovering from the 



* In Georgia, and elsewhere perhaps, this is called the " stretch flow " In that 
State, as well as in some parts of Carolina, the practice is common to continue the 
point flow into the " stretch" or long flow, without drawing the water until the 
latter be over. This free use of water as it may be made to substitute one hoing, 
may enable the planter to cultivate seven or eight acres to the hand, instead of 
five and six as of old. But, the proprietor \\ bo suffers this meth(id to be prac- 
ticed in his culture, year by year, if liis young crop be not often troubled by the 
maggot or root worm, will probably find his land so polluted with water grasses 
after several years, and so packed as to require rest and change of system to 
ameliorate it. 

t The hoe now used has been reduced, latterly, to four inches in breadth. 



35 

effects of long water, and taking a dry growth, is putting 
forth new green blades and fresh roots, which, not 
long enough yet to be interfered with by the deep hoing, 
very soon yield to the grateful influence of the air 
admitted, shoot vigorously into the loosened earth, and 
nourish a " good stalk." 

In the course of fifteen or eighteen days, the field is 
hoed cigain and weeded. This last hoing is also done 
with the small hoes, but very lightly, to avoid disturbing 
the roots which are now extended nearly midway be- 
tween the trenches. 

As the plant is now beginning to joint, the laborers 
will step about with care, for if one be broken at the 
joint it cannot be restored. A day or two after this 
third hoing, the water is put on again, as deep as the 
last long-flow, and is gradually increased in depth after 
the rice-heads have fairly shot out. 

This is called the "lay-by" flow,* Up to the time 
of this flow, is about ninety days for Rice sown the first 
week in April. After this, to the period of maturity is 
from sixty to seventy days, during which the water is 
often changed, and kept fresh,t but is never entirely 
withdrawn, until the grain be ripe for the harvest. 
Meantime, should any grass have escaped the previous 
hoings and weedings, it will show its crest before the 



* Some planters have this flow very shallow, insisting that a deep flow breeds 
■worms to the injury of the plant before it has shot out, in which case the only 
remedy is to dry. 

t The improved and best means of keeping the water fresh is to furnish the 
field with two trunks — one to admit fresh water at every flood-tide, and the other 
to void it with the ebb, so that twice in twenty-four hours there is obtained a 
slight rtirrent through the field. This, besides lessening the infection of the 
atmosphere ( miasmata) by stagnant water, keeps the roots of the plant cool and 
healthy, though it postpones the ripening of the Rice some five or eight days. 



36 



Rice matures, and be plucked up by the roots. All white 
Rice will be stripped off by hand. 

HARVEST. 

And now the grain is ripe for the sickle. The time 
for harvest is come. Gladsome, bounteous harvest ! A 
season, it is true, of laborious exertion, but a season also 
of cheerful emulation, of rustic, joyous festivity. The 
Rice is cut a day before you will say it is fully ripe.* The 
water is drawn off over night. Soon after the rising of 
a bright autumn sun, the reapers are seen amid the thick 
hanging grain, shoulder-high, mowing it down with the 
old fashioned sickle, dealing brisk and dexterous, but 
noiseless strokes. Before the dew is all gone, the Rice 
is laid prostrate, even and orderly, across the porous 
stubble. 

The next day, when quite dry of dew, it is tied up in 
sheaves, and borne away to the threshing yard, where 
it is well stacked before the night dew falls heavy. — 
This last heavy but gleeful labor completes the jfield- 
culture of the Rice plant. 

When the stack has undergone its curing heat, and 
become cool again, the Rice is threshed out by one of 
Emmons' Patent Machines, and sent to the pounding 
mill to be cleaned. The mill performs ingeniously 
enough the finishing process, thus : By steam power, 
the rough-rice is taken out of the vessel which freights 
it, up to the attic of the building — thence through the 
sand-screen to a pair of (five feet wide) heavy stones, 
which grind off the husk — thence into large wooden 



• For Rice sown 1st April the harvest begins usually from the 1st to the lOth 
of September. 



37 

mortars, in which it is pounded by large iron-shod pes- 
tles, (weighing 250 to 350 pounds,) for the space of 
some two hours, more or less. 

The Rice, now pounded, is once more elevated into 
the attic, whence it descends through a rolling-screen, 
to separate whole grains from the broken, and flour 
from both ; and also through wind-fans, to a vertical 
brushing screen, revolving rapidly, which polishes the 
flinty grain, and delivers it fully prepared, into the barrel 
or tierce, which is to convey it to market* 

The barrel is made by coopers attached to the mill, 
each one dresses his stuff and makes three barrels a day. 
He is paid twenty-five cents for each barrel made over 
his number. When the stufl' is dressed previously, five 
barrels, and even more may be made.f 

The profits of a Rice plantation of good size and 
locahty, are about eight per cent, per annum, indepen- 
dent of the privileges and perquisites of the plantation 
residence. Privileges and perquisites, which are ne- 
glected or undervalued by absentee proprietors, if not 
absolutely thrown away. 



* For information on Mills and Milling, see AUston'a Memoir on Rice. Also 
Appendix to the same, D. E. F. Also, Report to Winyah and All Saints Agricul- 
tural Society, April 1848. 

For other particulars and experiments in the culture of Rice, see sundry reports 
on the subject to the Patent Office Commissioner. Also, to the State Agricultural 
Society ; Vol. of Proceedings, pp. 55, 88. 

t The staves are of yellow pine, 40 inches in length; the heading of inch plank 
is made twenty-four inches in diameter. The barrel should contain at least six 
hundred pounds nett. The barrels from the Butler estate in Georgia, are much 
larger, weighing eight hundred pounds and more. 

There were several Machines for dressing staves, exhibited at the World's 
Fair in New York. Glass 5 and 6, Nos. 92, 184, (Hawkins' — this I saw in opera- 
tion, and admired.^ 384, 407. — Class 9, Nos. 11 and 14, are grain separators — 
aluable to rice-planters for preparing seed. 

5 



38 

OF DRAINING AND MANURES. 

The art of culture, however necessary, to be effectu- 
ally taught by experience, and learned in practice, depends 
upon principles, for the knowledge of which we are in- 
debted to science. In proportion as these are understood, 
and appreciated by farmers, will their system of practice 
be more or less improved. When a good system is 
applied with cheerful industry, patience, and persever- 
ance, the grateful earth will seldom fail to yield her 
increase. 

Light, heat, air and water, are the great fertilizers, 
furnished by bounteous Nature, for the intelligent use of 
man. Every plowing, every hoeing, every flooding of 
the fields, should be done in reference to the influence 
of one or more of these universal agencies. 

Without good draining, the most thorough prepara- 
tion of the surface, and subsoil, the most diligent labor 
after careful sowing, and the highest degree of manuring, 
will fail of producing the desired result. Water may be 
used so as partially to supersede its necessity in the 
culture of Rice; but, ultimately, it will be followed by evil 
effects on the land. 

Manures of various kinds are freely used in Cotton 
planting; Guano, with plaster, and with Kettlewell's 
Salts, Mapes' preparation, and composts of litter with 
muck, marsh-mud, sedge, and sometimes salt.^ 

* Every stable whether for horses or cows, should be furnished with a tank, 
and conduits for the collection and preservation of li..iuid manures, otherwise 
so improvidently wasted. 

Every Farm-pen also should be provided with some convenient receptacle for 
the same, which is greatly more valuable than the dung of the cattle. A ditch 
Cfour feet by three^ cut along the inner end of the stalls for oxen and cows, all 
around the pen, and filled in with rice-straw, or leaves, or any thing else that will 
absorb the liquid voided, is a plan which I have found answer very well, and 
may do, for the want of a better. The ditch may be emptied once a month, and 
refilled with fresh straw. 



39 

In Rice-planting the practice of manuring* is of re- 
cent origin, excepting of course that best of all dressings, 
to which we are indebted for increment of the soil itself, 
the natural deposit, namely, of sediment when the rivers 
overflow their banks, or silt from seaward, when the 
turbid waters, admitted into the fields, are held there, 
undisturbed for days. A good time to apply rice-flour to 
Rice, is to scatter it between the trenches immediately 
after the long-flow. 

Ifthe dressing be too heavy, the Rice, made too luxuri- 
ant, will lodge, and waste in the harvest. In applying 
lime (100 bushels is safe, if there be plenty of stubble, 
or peaty fibre, or a thick native growth,) time should 
be given for it to act chemically and to become incor- 
porated with the soil, before water is put on the land. 

Rice-strawf if hsted into the fallow ground, and well 
covered up with a bed of earth, will be decomposed by 
planting time, and make a fine manure, improving the 
crop in both quantity and quality. 

* See Dr. Heriot's Report on Manuring Rice-laud. Proceedings of Winyah and 
All Saints Agricultural Society, April 20th, 1848, p. 16. 

Ravenel's Report on Manures. Proceedings of State Agricultural Society, 
p. 273. Patent Office Report on Manures, re-published in "Cotton Planter." 

t In 1843, Mr. Ruffin, when treating of Manures in the low country (Agricul- 
tural Survey, p. 83, j said " there is almost no straw, except oa Rice plaiuations 
and where it is mostly thrown away. " 

The worthy Surveyor was probably misled by observing the neglected barn- 
yard of some absentee, or some Island Estate, not having attached thereto any 
highland worth planting. The proprietor who should throw away his straw 
either then or now, would be deemed by his neighbors a loose and thriftless 
planter. It must be acknowledged, however, that since the publication of their Ana- 
lysis by the Winyah and All Saints Agricultural Society, both the straw and chafl" of 
Rice, have been preserved with more care, and used extensively in manuring both 
swamp and highland. Prior to the Analysis \he chaff was mostly thrown away. 

Dr. Edward T. Heriot, who originated the system of Manuring Swamp-land, 
with Rice straw, has not only turned it to good recount in establishing his brand 
in the marke*, but has derived from it large aid in provisioning his plantation 
with Potatoes and Peas. He has furnished his neighbors not only with the exam; 
pie, but, ihcTule also, by which they are enabled to profit equally with himself. 



40 

Rice-chaff,* spread three or four inches thick over the 
fallow ground, and plowed in, will produce a like effect 
in course of time. It is not as readily decomposed as 
the straw, and may disappoint early expectation. 

Rice-flourf is a still better, more stimulating dressing, 
but not so lasting in its effects. It may be applied 
(thirty bushels to the acre) broad-cast, and plowed in 
before planting, or it may be scattered between the 
trenches after the long water, as above described. 

Now, as to the labor, by means of which these crop^ 
are raised — these important results, both commercial 
and national, are obtained, the produce of which pays 
for three-fourths of all imports into the country, ($260- 
000,000). Our laborers are descendants of the African 
bondsmen given to our ancestors by the mother country 
at the same time that Indigo, and Rice and Cotton were 
sent to them to cultivate. They are well fed and 
clothed, well sheltered, and cared for in sickness, and 
during the infirmities and helplessness of old age. They 
are for the most part healthy, and cheerful, and, when 
well trained, are very efificient laborers. 

The negroes have provided for them all the necessa- 
ries of life in sufficient abundance And they enjoy the 
privilege of procuring many comforts and indulgencies. 

For Dr. Heriot's method and its results in 1843, see Supplement to Tiausac 
tionsof the State Agricultural Society. Memoir on Rice — Appendix C. Also 
Transactions of the State Agricultural Society, p. 57. 

* For an Analysis of the offals of Rice — ^ee a Report on the suliject by Prof. 
Sheppard, to the Winyah and All Saints Agricultural Society, as published by that 
Society. It is re-published in the Supplement to the Volume of Transactions of the 
State Agricultural Society. 

t For the consistant e.xperiment made with Rice-chaff and flour, we ore indebt- 
ed to the late Joshua John Ward, whose observation, judgment and energy, iu 
mana'^in'' his large Estate, were equaled by his humanity, hospitality, and willing- 
ness to communicate. The eminence which he attained as a Planter, tho sim- 
plicity of his character, and the sterling qualities of heart.which gained Lim many 



41. 

In every Christian neighborhood, the means are afford- 
ed of Missionary instruction in their duty to God and 
toman. On most, well regulated plantations the young 
negroes are taught specially; and to all, the way of 
salvation is preached. In short, the educated master, 
is the negro's best friend upon earth. But it is not 
enough in all cases, that the preaching of the Gospel is 
provided for our negroes ; they must be induced to seek 
an interest in it — they must be won to obedience to 
the divine law — to love the truth. Obviously the 
strongest inducement, is example on our own part; 
next, a just, consistent, systematic administration of 
domestic government. Nothing sooner attracts the 
confidence of the negro, and commands his respect, 
than the illustration, in a system of management, of 
justice, tempered by kindness. But enough — let us do 
our present duty, kind Providence will smile upon our 
efforts. 

In proportion as we shall have performed well our 
mission, so may we, with trust and hope, bequeath 
our inheritance to posterity ; and so may each of us, 
when prostrate under the hand of time, and hourly 
expecting the summons of the last messenger on earth, 
with humble confidence look up toward the bar of our 
common Judge. 

friends, procured for him in 1851, on the part of the Legislature, the spontaneous 
offering of the honorary position of LU Govenor of South Carolina — on which he 
retired from public life. 



APPENDIX. 



Si. Catharine's Island, January 21st, 1854. 

Dear Sir : 

To ascertain with accuracy tlie amount of Sea-Islancl 
Cotton produced in Georgia, the production of each county should 
be known ; and to acquire this information, reference should be 
made to intelligent individuals residing in each one, in the absence 
of statistics ; but as this course has not been adopted, I necesarily 
had recourse to the Factor of the Planters of said counties. This 
estimate may be somewhat vague, but I would decide, that it ap- 
proaches as near accuracy, as the date which has been assumed 
will admit of. It is computed that 11,300 bales of Sea-Island 
Cotton are produced in this State, weighing not less than 400 
weight. I have assumed the maximum 6000 laborers — 1000 white 
laborers, and 5000 negroes. 

We will estimate the land cultivated by the former at $400,000, 
and that cultivated by slaves at $1,500,000. The whites produ- 
cing 3000 bales, to the slaves 8,300 bales. 

To form an accurate estimate of the value of the slave capital 
employed, we must embrace the old [negroes] and children, and 
double thenumber — say 10,000 slaves, whose marketable value is 
$4,000,000. For the past 5 years Cotton has averaged 20c. per lb. 

Value of land cultivated by slaves,. .^ $1,500,000 

Value of slaves employed in its cultivation 4,000,000 

$5,500,000 
8,300 bales of Cotton produced by slaves at 20 cts. 

per pound, $664,000 

Expenses, (this estimate may fall below the cost,) $100,000 

$564,000 

Adding to this estimate the yield exceeds 10 per cent. 

It is not supposed that there is any deterioation of the capital 

employed, for every judicious Planter improves his lands by a 

judicious system. Keeps his buildings in good condition, and he 



44 APPENDIX. 

realises a numerical increase of his slaves, of from four to eight per 
cent from births. The increase of our negroes must be ascribed to 
their improved condition in all respects. They are better fed, 
their buildings are more comfortable, and they enjoy the benefits of 
the improved system of husbandry, which, whilst it lightens the 
physical labor, it enables the planter to apply them profitably to 
the improvement of his lands, by a judiciovis system of manuring, 
which is infinitely cheaper and more substantial, than any extra- 
neous manures which come from abroad. The use of these 
implements, (my remarks are exclusively applied to Sea-Island 
Cotton Plantations) places it in the power of the Planter, to keep 
employed a part of his force the whole year, except when he is 
harvesting his crop, in collecting the material, and making manure. 
He possesses advantages which no other agriculturist enjoys, and 
if he does not avail himself of them, the fault rests with him, and 
I am inclined to believe that from this neglect, he does injustice to 
his negroes. If his crops are made in abundance, he has it in his 
power to expend a little more money for their comfort and certainly 
for his benefit. 

I cannot but regret that circumstances beyond my control, have 
prevented my answering your letter before. 

I am, very respectively your obt. servt. 

# # * 

Robert W. Allston, 

Georgetown, So. Ca. 



APPENDIX. 



The following Communication to the Daily Mercury of 11 th Jan^y, 
lSi9,from the 'pen of that eminent Naturalist, the Rev. Dr. Bach- 
man, furnishes a reliable account of the Wild Rice of the Lahes. 

MINNESOTA RICE. 

Mr. Editor: Several articles, under the above head, have, 
within the last few weeks, been going the rounds of the various 
Newspapers in the United States, and I perceive one of a similar 
character in the Mercury of yesterday morning, extracted from the 
Journal and Messenger. 

From the accounts published by Prof. Randall, of Cincinnati, 
it would appear that this is " a new discovery of a new cereal 
grain in the Territory of Minnesota ;" that " it is infinitely supe- 
rior in taste, and far more nutritious than the Rice of the United 
States ; grows abundantly as an indigenous production, and can 
be cultivated to almost any extent in the rivers and lakes that 
abound in that territory," Your western brother, the Editor of 
the Journal and Messenger, ventures the opinion, that '"the Min- 
nesota Rice will, in time, be found to be of infinitely greater value 
than the far-famed gold mines of California." The latter predic- 
tion may prove true. 

Should our planters, however, from the above glowing descrip- 
tions, entertain any fears that this new western production should 
supplant the Carolina Rice, I would invite their attention to the 
few following facts : 

The Minnesota Rice is the article known in our Northern, Western 
and some of our Southern States, under the name of "Wild Rice," 
" Zizania Aquatica ;" sometimes it is called wild oats. It abounds 
in the rivers and lakes of Western New York, Pennsylvania, 

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